Index Rises

MBIE Jobs Online heads up.

Australia & New Zealand

The Jobs Online index for December shows vacancies in New Zealand made a small increase in December 2017. The index measures changes in online job advertisements from four internet job boards – SEEK, Trade Me Jobs, Education Gazette and Kiwi Health Jobs. The data is used as a guide to indicate labour demand and changes in the economy.

The trend series is used as the primary indicator as it reduces the month-to-month volatility. The All Vacancies Index increased by 0.7 per cent in the month of December 2017.

The data shows vacancies increased in six out of eight industry groups with the largest increase in the hospitality and tourism industry (up 2.2 per cent). The biggest fall was for the information technology industry (down 1.5 per cent).

In terms of occupation groups vacancies increased in seven out of eight groups. The largest increases were for labourers (up 2.7 per cent) and machinery drivers (up 2.1 per cent). Meanwhile vacancies increased in all five skill levels with the largest increases were for unskilled (up 2.0 per cent) and semi-skilled (up 1.5 per cent) occupations.

Vacancies increased in eight out of ten regions over the month, with the biggest increases in Bay of Plenty (up 3.1 per cent) and Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough/West Coast (up 2.1 per cent).

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment also revealed that over the past year, online vacancies have increased by 7.6 per cent.